On 18 and 19 May 2023, the Minerva Global Security Programme at the Blavatnik School of Government hosted a cross-stakeholder workshop to explore strategic responses to the Captagon crisis emanating from Syria. Convened by Guernica 37 Centre, the New Lines Institute and the Syrian Forum, participants discussed security, legal, economic and political responses to the crisis and evaluated other courses of action to disrupt the narcotics trade.

The first-of-its-kind workshop was attended by 25 participants from across governments, international and Syrian think tanks, academia, and Syrian and international experts in illicit economies, narcotics, and the Syrian conflict. The convening was designed as a first step towards identifying research needs and designing policy and programmatic responses to the crisis.